


Quail

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Poisoning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 11:32:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3568100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A diner invitation goes sour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quail

**Author's Note:**

> Again, one of the earlier works... Originally posted on July 30th 2014.

Peter and El had invited Neal over for diner after they closed a big case, where Neal had gone undercover as a fence. The baddies had been caught and the operation was a success. Peter was in an exceptional good mood and told El to make Neal´s favorite, meaning the little chickens, yes, he knows that they are called Cornish hens, but to him, they are just little chickens.  
So Neal promised to bring the wine and at seven o´clock, he rings the Burkes doorbell. Satchmo immediately starts trotting after Neal and they sit at the dining room table while Neal pets Satchmo.

"Sorry Neal, but the poultry deli where I always buy the Cornish hens, didn´t have any, but they said they had a delivery of quail that unexpectedly came in, so I hope that is OK", El asked.

"Yeah, they are even better", Neal was opening the bottle of wine he brought, to decant it. Peter already had a bottle of beer before him, so Neal didn´t ask if he wanted some wine.

When dinner was ready, the men joined El at the table when Neal noticed that she had cooked Peter something else. She explained that Peter is not a ´quail´ kind of guy, so she made him something special to celebrate, more to his liking… steak.  
They had a pleasant meal, but El didn´t feel very well, and hardly ate anything, so Neal enjoyed his quail with most of the wine, as El didn´t want any. They had a pleasant diner, but before dessert, Neal started looking a bit pale. When coffee was served, he started looking green around the gills and Peter noticed as well.

"Are you OK?" Peter asked, as he noticed the small tremors racking Neal´s body.

"Yeah fine, just not feeling too hot, I am tired and in combination with the wine…", Neal said apologetic as he felt the nausea wash over him. He really wasn´t feeling well and soon he was started getting dizzy.  
Peter led Neal to the couch and El got a damp cloth to put on his forehead. Neal startled when she put the cloth over his head, and he looked confused around.

"Where am I?". Neal asked looking vaguely disoriented.  
OK,… now El and Peter were worried, this was getting worse rapidly. Neal really looked like he was going to be sick, so El grabbed a wastebasket just in time, as Neal started heaving.

"Call 911" Peter stated to El, who was already getting the phone. Neal in the meantime started to look paler, if that was even possible.

  
"Why am I here?" Neal looked with a confused look around him and up at Peter. "Did the operation go south?"

  
Now Peter was definitely terrified. The rapid onset of symptoms was bad. But what was it, poison? Neal must have been poisoned during the operation, there was no other explanation. But when did it happen? While Peter was thinking what had gone wrong, Neal started seizing, his body jerking repetitive and rhythmic. Peter knew that the EMT´s would want to know how long Neal had seized, so he started looking at his watch and making sure Neal didn´t fall of the couch. After two minutes Neal relaxed and when Peter gently shook him, Neal opened his eyes so Peter could see that there was almost no blue left, his pupils completely dilated.

"ETA on the ambulance is 5 minutes, Peter" El called out to him. Neal started wheezing as he was in respiratory distress, but before Peter could check it out, Neal started seizing again.  
Finally, the ambulance arrived and El opened the door for the EMT´s. The first medic assessed the situation and quickly gave Neal diazepam against the seizures. Neal relaxed as the drug took effect, Peter was visually relieved, but then he heard the medic calling out to his colleague to get the intubation set, as Neal was barely breathing by himself.  
Neal was loaded on a stretcher, intubated and they were on their way, calling out that they were going to New York Methodist Hospital. Peter and El got in the Taurus and drove behind the ambulance.  
When they arrived at the hospital´s ER, Peter threw his FBI parking badge behind the windscreen and the both ran into the ER, where they saw doctors running after the gurney. A nurse showed them the waiting area and there they were.  
  
"Caffrey Family?" a nurse called. Peter and El stood up and surprisingly the nurse did not ask their relationship, probably seeing the worry on their faces.

"How is he?´ Peter asked, but the nurse took them with her, leading them to an ER room that was filled with medical staff. ´The doctors want to ask you some questions.", she explained.  
Once in the room, they saw that Neal face was whiter than white and he was intubated. He really looked bad. His body still twitching from what looked like small seizures.

"Do you have any idea to what he can have been exposed to?" one of the docs asked. But nor Peter nor El could think of anything. Peter went over their day at work, but they could not deduct any exposure to poisons and then El explained how she had made diner. And when she mentioned that they ate quail, one of the docs looked up and repeated "Quail? Are you sure?".

  
"OK, he probably has a hemlock seed poisoning. Where did you buy the quails?"

"What?" Peter was staring in disbelief to Neal and then he realized, "El, did you eat the quail?". It turned out, she had tried it but because of her upset stomach, she hardly ate any of it. Neal however had eaten most of it.  
A nurse let them out of the ER room and back to the waiting area, while the doctors continued their work on Neal.  
After a couple of hours Peter and El were let into Neal´s room, where he lay in a bed, face still smeared with some grey residue from the active charcoal that had administered to clean out his stomach. He was still intubated as his oxygen levels were not yet normal.  
After a while Neal started stirring and El took his hand in hers to make sure that he knew that there someone with him. As his heartbeat started increasing, El pushed the nurse button, and a nurse came in, checking his vitals. "He is waking up, but everything is as it should be, he will be fine".  
  
Neal came to awareness feeling a hand taking his, it was a nice warm hand, and he could only hope that he could stay in this nice slumber. A female voice told him that he was OK and that they were there for him. But then he felt something in his mouth and it was restricting his breathing. And with that feeling came a lot of other feelings, his stomach aches, his muscles that were sore from the seizures he had had. And then suddenly, a big hand touched his face… Peter, he leaned into the touch as Peter explained that the machine was breathing for him and that he had to go with the flow. So Neal relaxed and let himself slip away into oblivion again.

The next time he woke up, the tube was gone. He could vaguely remember waking up several times and that some medical staff had taken it out, he himself gagging and coughing, but glad that the damn thing was gone. He now only smelled the chemical smelling oxygen that came out the tubes in his nose.

He could see El and Peter sleeping in some chairs next to his bed, their hands intertwined.  
"Hey buddy, welcome back", he turned his head and saw Peter looking at him and carefully letting go of El´s hand, and approaching Neal´s bed.

It turned out that the bad guys found out that the Burkes where into more exotic foods and they had a express delivery made to the deli with hemlock fed quails. It had been their plan to poison the special agent and his wife, but they didn´t know that they wouldn´t eat the game, and that his CI would eat it.

When Neal was released from the hospital four days later, El invited Neal over for dinner, but this time, it was for hamburgers and beer.


End file.
